Since I was in second grade, when I graduated to "chapter" books, I've basically always had a book going.
In grade school (elementary school to some), I always tried to have the most Accelerated Reader points in my class or grade. Accelerated Reader is a program for kids in which you read books, then take quizzes on a green screen Apple about them, and then earn a portion of the full points based on the number of questions you answer correctly. At Freeburg Grade School, part of our Reading class grade was based on AR points. Alas, I never had the most points in my grade because Tim Evans always had more - I swear that he was a speed reader or something!
Another benefit of reading books in grade school was Book it!, by Pizza Hut, that gives away personal pan pizzas for kids who read a certain amount.
Finally, in high school English, I was always the one who read the whole book within the first few days of getting it; mostly because the class moved so slowly, and I just couldn't wait to find out what happened!
I guess that these contributed to my being a reader for life, but I think I would have been anyway. Here are some of my favorite books from lately:
Loot: I actually have about fifty pages left - it's taken me a while to read! I borrowed it from the library, and I actually had to renew it; a first for me!
Anyway, it's chock full of stories from the Age of Imperialism about the treasures of the ancient world (Egypt, Greece, Turkey) being carted off to Europe, as well as stories of spectacular objects returned to their countries of origin, and the conflict surrounding their return.
Now that these countries are more industrialized and more aware of their national identity, they want their treasures back.
Loot examines who really owns antiquities - the world, their holders, or their source countries.
City of Thieves: A quick, easy read! I bought it at Borders at the recommendation of a passing clerk, and I was not disappointed.
It's about the adventures of two mismatched Russians during the German occupation of Russia after WWII on a quest to find eggs for the wedding cake of the general's daughter.
Kind of sad, but definitely an excellent book.
Lamb: I've had another book by Christopher Moore,
Fluke, for a long time that I bought on one of the buy-two-get-one-free deals at
Borders, and tried to read, but couldn't get into it. So a few months ago when I was pretty low on reading, I picked it up again and loved it. After that, I was excited to tear into
Lamb when Pastor Joe of
PUCC recommended it.
At any rate, since the Bible doesn't talk much about Christ's teen life and early adult years, Lamb fills it in from the perspective of Biff, one of JC's pals who wasn't a disciple.
Irreverent and graphic, it may be offensive to some (read Baptists and Catholics between the lines) in the audience. Still, hilarious most of the time, and thought provoking about the Bible and the similarities between world religions all of the time.
A Thousand Splendid Suns: After finding out that the author of
The Kite Runner wrote a second book, I had to buy it as soon as it hit the shelves! Yeah, I know this is supposed to be about books
lately, and this one's been a while ago, but I couldn't exclude it!
The best thing about Hosseini's books is that when you're reading, it feels like you could just as easily be listening to someone telling the story out loud.
This one is pretty heavy, and ends with the same type of bittersweet resolution; happy for some, tragic for others; as
The Kite Runner.
Twilight: I'm a little ashamed to admit it. Feel free to haze me at will about this, but yes, I have read all four of the Twilight books.
They were a little dramatic and tween-y, and I was not happy about what came along in the last one (if you've read it, you know what I mean).
It really started innocently enough. Our dear friend Suzanne (who is sadly moving to Virgina soon) strong-armed me into going to see the movie when it was at the theatre. Since I never like to see a movie associated with a book without knowing both, I had to read the book a few months later. I have no idea why it was so much later, but I digress.
Before you know it, I had read all four of the books in the course of about ten days - that was a lot of reading!
At any rate, if you have any suggestions, let me know! Summer is a great time for reading, and I'm almost ready for a new book.
.jpg)
Our first day started with a whirlwind tour of Baltimore. Not many pictures from Baltimore, but we had a delicious lunch at Phillip's Seafood, right on the Inner Harbor. We had crab cakes and shrimp, crab and avocado salad, and crab bisque. Oh, and we also had butter. Lots of it.
